Report on the zoological collections made in the Indo-Pacific Ocean ...

646 COLLECTIONS FEOM THE WESTEEN INDIAN OCEAN.66. Xanthasia murigera, White.An adult female and small male from Mozambique, obtained onthe beach (No. 237), agree in all particulars with White's typicalspecimens in the British-Museum collection from the Philippines(Cuminc/), and with a series of specimens from the 'Herald' collection,without indication of locality, but labelled as " parasitic onTridaoia.'" Dana records this curious species from the Fijis (VanuaLevu), and A. Milne-Edwards from New Caledonia ; its occurrenceat the western limit of the Indo-Pacific Region is now, I believe,recorded for the first time.67. PMlyra rectangularis. (Plate XLIX. fig. A.)Carapace of somewhat rhomboidal form, depressed, about as broadas long, with the angles at the junction of the antero-lateral andpostero-lateral margins rounded ; its dorsal surface is everywhereuniformly and very distinctly punctated ; the front projects butlittle, and its anterior margin is slightly concave. The pterygostomianregions are slightly angulated ; the posterior margin of thecarapace projects somewhat and is perfectly straight, the posterolateralangles being right angles. The eyes project slightly fromthe orbits, whose tapper margins are marked with a fissure ; theexognath of the outer masillipedes is nearly as broad as the ischiumjointof the endognath, and reaches nearly to the acute distal endof the merus-joint. The chelipedes (in the female) are of moderatelength and slender ; the arm or merus-joint is granulated bothabove and below, but more thickly on its inferior surface ; its marginsare not distinctly angulated ; the palm and wrist are minutelypunctated on their iipper and lower surfaces, and are granulated ontheir outer (or posterior) margins ; the fingers are more than half aslong as the palms, straight, acute, and are not denticulated on theirinner margins ; the ambulatory legs small and slender, with thedactyli longer than the preceding joints. The colour (in spirit) islight yellowish brown, carapace and chelipedes being punctulatedwith dusky grey. Length of carapace (of the female) under 3 lines(nearly 6 millim.).A single female was collected at the Seychelles, 4-12 fms.(No. 194).The abdomen in this specimen has all the segments, except the firsttwo and the last, coalescent.This species is distinguished from nearly all of its congeners withwhich I am acquainted by the straight posterior margin of thecarapace, with its prominent postero-lateral angles. Phih/ra tu-Lercuhsa, 8timpson *, from Hong-Kong, which it resembles in thischaracter, has the branchial, post-gastric, and genital regions of thecarapace tuberculated. Philyra hevidorsalis, Miers, from Goree t,* Proc. Acad. Kat. Sci. Philad. p. 160 (1860).t Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 5, viii. p. 264, pi. iv. fig. 2 (1881).